Born in Visakhapatnam, India, but raised in the city of Mangalore, Rev. Cyril Veliath came to Japan as a student in 1974. Now 74, he is currently a professor emeritus of Indian philosophy at Sophia University.
1. When you moved to Japan 46 years ago, did you get culture shock? Yes, I think with the language. Even though India has so many languages, when we travel to other parts of India we could usually figure things out with English or Hindi. In Japan, no other language seemed to work.
2. How did people treat you when you first came? Japanese people have been very kind to me. People can sometimes misunderstand them as being rude, but that is mainly due to the language gap.